$2.6 billion penalty for Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s second-largest bank, has agreed to plead guilty and pay more than $2.6 billion to settle charges it helped Americans bilk funds from U.S. coffers, the biggest criminal tax penalty ever.

The bank admitted that for decades it engaged in practices such as destroying documents and setting up sham accounts to help thousands of Americans dodge the tax man.

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The deal comes amid increased pressure on the Justice Department to hold banks accountable for sketchy practices. DOJ has been blasted for failing to prosecute banks in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis — though Credit Suisse was not a major player — and for failing to vigorously pursue financial institutions that have acted as tax havens for the wealthy.

“I can announce that Credit Suisse has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges related to this pervasive illegal activity,” Attorney General Eric Holder said. “This is the largest bank to plead guilty in 20 years. The bank will pay a total of $1.8 billion in the form of a fine of over $1.13 billion and nearly $670 million in restitution to the IRS. They have admitted criminal wrongdoing.”

Responding to a question about prior comments Holder made that some banks were too big to prosecute, Holder said: “No bank is too big to jail.”

The bank’s CEO issued a statement expressing regret.

“Having this matter fully resolved is an important step forward for us,” said Brady Dougan, the American CEO of Credit Suisse.

But critics on Capitol Hill are not assuaged. Late on Monday, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), whose panel issued a scathing report on the bank earlier this year, said he has no idea why the deal does not include a list of American tax dodgers’ names.

“It is a mystery to me why the U.S. government didn’t require as part of the agreement that the bank cough up some of the names of the U.S. clients with secret Swiss bank accounts,” Levin said.

“More than 20,000 Americans were Credit Suisse account holders in Switzerland, the vast majority of whom never disclosed their accounts as required by U.S. law. This leaves their identities undisclosed, with no accountability for taxes owed,” he said.

And Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) bristled that although the deal “might turn heads on Main Street ” they didn’t see any “top individuals held criminally liable.”

When asked about whether there would be more indictments of individuals, Deputy Attorney General James Cole would not respond.

So far, DOJ has indicted eight Credit Suisse bankers, two of which have pleaded guilty.

The announcement is the second landmark tax evasion deal Justice has made with a major Swiss bank for aiding tax evasion. But the latest one dwarfs the $780 million that UBS, the Alpine nation’s biggest bank, paid in 2009 after it admitted wrongdoing to settle similar charges.

Under that deal, UBS did provide names — though not as many as some wanted.

Cole said there’s a reason Credit Suisse is seeing a larger penalty than UBS, though the bank didn’t hide as much from the IRS as UBS did. The reason: They didn’t cooperate right away.

“It did not respond properly,” he said. “It allowed documents that could help our investigation be destroyed.”